1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic keyboard musical instrument that gives performance feeling and expression closer to those given when an acoustic piano is played.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an electronic piano has become fairly closer to an acoustic grand piano in its tone-generating system. However, as far as a manner of tone generation responsive to a key release is concerned, the conventional electronic piano has failed to exhibit a sufficient reality.
To eliminate this inconvenience, the present assignee developed an electronic keyboard musical instrument that employs a double sound source (key-on source and key-off source) system in which musical tones generated by an acoustic grand piano during damping at the time of key release are sampled and used as key-off tones generated by the electronic keyboard musical instrument.
However, in the conventional electronic keyboard musical instrument, no consideration has been give of the idea of controlling a musical tone using a position of a string touching a damper member during key release as a turning point. Therefore, although musical tones generated upon key release show reality, the performance feeling given by the musical instrument is different from that given by an acoustic grand piano.
It is an object of the invention to provide an electronic keyboard musical instrument that gives performance feeling closer to that given by an acoustic piano (e.g. a grand piano) and enables the technique of expression closer to that used when playing the acoustic piano.
To attain the above object, in a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic keyboard musical instrument comprising an actuating member, an output member that is actuated by the actuating member to output a plurality of pieces of information according to respective actuating positions of the actuating member, a touch information-generating device that generates touch information based on first information output by the output member when the actuating member is in a vicinity of an actuation-terminating position thereof, a musical tone-generating device that generates a musical tone according to the touch information generated by the touch information-generating device, and a control device responsive to second information output by the output member during returning of the actuating member, the second information being generated on a side closer to an actuation-starting position of the actuating member than a position in which the first information is generated, for providing control such that the musical tone being generated is progressively damped and a musical tone having a predetermined characteristic is generated, wherein the output member outputs the second information when the actuating position of the actuating member is equivalent to a damper-leaving position in a key stroke of an acoustic piano keyboard.
According to the first aspect of the invention, when touch information is generated based on first information output by an output member when an actuating member is in a vicinity of an actuation-terminating position of the actuating member, a musical tone is generated according to the touch information, and in response to second information output by the output member during returning of the actuating member, the second information being generated on a side closer to an actuation-starting position of the actuating member than a position in which the first information is generated, the musical tone being generated is progressively damped, and at the same time a musical tone having a predetermined characteristic is generated. Further, the output member outputs the second information when the actuating position of the actuating member is equivalent to a damper-leaving position in a key stroke of a real piano keyboard. Therefore, it is possible to make closer the performance feeling and techniques of expression to those available from the real piano.
To attain the above object, in a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an electronic keyboard musical instrument comprising an actuating member, an output member that is actuated by the actuating member to output a plurality of pieces of information according to respective actuating positions of the actuating member, a touch information-generating device that generates touch information based on first information output by the output member when the actuating member is in a vicinity of an actuation-terminating position thereof, a musical tone-generating device that generates a musical tone according to the touch information generated by the touch information-generating device, and a storage device responsive to one of pieces of second information output by the output member during actuation in a key-depressing direction, the pieces of second information being generated on a side closer to an actuation-starting position of the actuating member than a position in which the first information is generated, the one of pieces of the second information corresponding to a key position remotest from a non-key-depression position, for assigning a first value defined by a plurality of bits to a marker indicative of the one of pieces of the second information corresponding to the key position remotest from the non-key-depression position, and storing the assigned first value, the storage device being responsive to another one of the pieces of the second information different from the first information being output by the output member when the actuating member is in a vicinity of an actuation-starting position thereof during returning of the actuating member, the other one of pieces of the second information corresponding to a key position closest to the non-key-depression position, for assigning a second value defined by a plurality of bits to a marker indicative of the other one of pieces of the second information corresponding to the key position closest to the non-key-depression position, and storing the assigned second value, and a parameter control device that controls musical tone parameters based on the stored first and second values.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, when touch information is generated based on first information output by an output member when an actuating member is in a vicinity of an actuation-terminating position, a musical tone is generated according to the touch information. In response to one of pieces of second information output by the output member during actuation in a key-depressing direction, the pieces of second information being generated on a side closer to an actuation-starting position of the actuating member than a position in which the first information is generated, the one of pieces of the second information corresponding to a key position remotest from a non-key-depression position, a first value defined by a plurality of bits is assigned to a marker indicative of the one of pieces of the second information corresponding to the key position remotest from the non-key-depression position, and the assigned first value is stored. On the other hand, in response to another one of the pieces of the second information different from the first information being output by the output member when the actuating member is in a vicinity of an actuation-starting position thereof during returning of the actuating member, the other one of pieces of the second information corresponding to a key position closest to the non-key-depression position, a second value defined by a plurality of bits is assigned to a marker indicative of the other one of pieces of the second information corresponding to the key position closest to the non-key-depression position, and the assigned second value is stored. Musical tone parameters are controlled based on the stored first and second values. Therefore, even when an output member for outputting a large number of information items is used, a similar sounding system can be applied irrespective of the number of output information items. Therefore, even when the number of make contacts of each switch or the number of output values of a sensor is increased, the sounding system need not be modified very much. This makes it possible to realize a more advanced sounding system while suppressing the cost of development, i.e. contributes to commonality of systems.
Preferably, the output member has a plurality of contacts, and outputs the information according to respective closing states of the contacts.
Preferably, the output member has three contacts.
Preferably, the output member has four contacts.
Preferably, the electronic keyboard musical instrument further comprises a key-off waveform-generating device that generates key-off waveforms.
More preferably, the electronic keyboard musical instrument further comprises a slicing device that slices a key-off waveform generated by the key-off waveform-generating device.
Further preferably, the parameter control device controls a level to which the slicing device slices the key-off waveform, based on the stored first or second value.
To attain the above object, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic keyboard musical instrument comprising an actuating member, an output member that is actuated by the actuating member to output information according to an actuating position of the actuating member, a detection device that detects a touch condition of a key in a second half of a depression stroke thereof in a key-depressing direction, out of a whole key-depression and key-release stroke of the key, an assigning device responsive to the touch condition of the key being detected by the detecting device, for assigning a musical tone corresponding to the key which is depressed to a predetermined channel a tone-generating device that generates the musical tone assigned to the predetermined channel, and a control device that controls the assigning device such that when a predetermined position in a first half of the depression stroke shallower than the second half of the depression stroke is crossed by the key in a key-releasing direction without the key, to which the musical tone assigned to the predetermined channel corresponds, being re-depressed, the assignment of the musical tone to the predetermined channel is canceled, and when the key, to which the musical tone assigned to the predetermined channel corresponds, is re-depressed without crossing the predetermined position in the key-releasing direction, and a re-touch condition different from the detected touch condition of the key is detected by the detection device upon the re-depression, the musical tone is assigned to a channel different from the predetermined channel according to the re-touch condition of the key.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, when a predetermined position in a first half of a depression stroke shallower than a second half of the depression stroke is crossed by a key in a key-releasing direction without the key, to which a musical tone assigned to a predetermined channel corresponds, being re-depressed, the assignment of the musical tone to the predetermined channel is canceled, and when the key, to which the musical tone assigned to the predetermined channel corresponds, is re-depressed without crossing the predetermined position in the key-releasing direction, and a re-touch condition different from the detected touch condition of the key is detected by a detection device upon the re-depression, the musical tone is assigned to a channel different from the predetermined channel according to the re-touch condition of the key, that is, until key-off is effected, all the tone-generating channels except for ones used for tone generation are made available. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an musical tone effect as will be produced when a key is repeatedly struck with a damper pedal being continuously stepped on. Further, a musical tone can be produced without completely returning the key to its key-off position, and hence it is possible to play fast a passage of a musical piece to be played fast for performance.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.